R4OG repeats as the Corps' logistics unit of the year

R4OG repeats as the Corps' logistics unit of the year

Feb. 18, 2014 - 06:00AM
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Lance Cpls. Grant Lee and Jayme Copeland, embarkation specialists assigned to Retrograde and Redeployment in support of Reset and Reconstitution Operational Group, guide a forklift on Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, in March 2013. For the second year in a row, R4OG was named the Marine Corps' logistics unit of the year. (Cpl. Alejandro Pena / Marine Corps)

For the second year in a row, the Redeployment and Retrograde in Support of Reset and Reconstitution Operations Group, supporting Marine Forces Central Command, has been named the Marine Corps’ logistics unit of the year.

The unit is being honored Feb. 27 at the service’s annual awards dinner for logistics Marines near Washington, D.C.

Capt. Ernest Nordman, the officer logistician of the year, will receive the Manion Award. The award is named for 1st Lt. Travis Manion, a Marine logistician who was killed by enemy sniper fire in Iraq in 2007. Nordman recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan as the II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group logistics officer and Headquarters Company commander.

Also being honored as the top enlisted and civilian logisticans will be Gunnery Sgt. Annabel Nevels, with Headquarters & Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations West, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Daniel Scott, a retired Marine who serves as a quality assurance specialist for Marine Corps Logistics Command’s consolidated storage program at Camp Pendleton.

The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Jim Amos, will be the guest of honor at the dinner. He will be joined by Lt. Gen. William Faulkner, deputy commandant for Marine Corps Installations and Logistics, and Rear Adm. Margaret Kibben, chaplain of the Marine Corps.

The R4OG is responsible for packing up and returning deployed Marine Corps gear to the United States as the war in Afghanistan winds down.

According to information prepared for the awards dinner, the unit has already sent more than $1 billion worth of Marine Corps equipment and supplies out of theater since it activated in 2012, working with limited infrastructure and support.

“This unique and provisional unit was created in order to facilitate the responsible retrograde of equipment and supplies from Afghanistan and most importantly to perpetuate the Marine Corps’ time-tested exemplary stewardship of the U.S. taxpayer’s dollars,” according to a unit description provided to Marine Corps Times. “Saving money and responsible resource management are the key reasons for [R4OG’s] existence.”

Some 27.5 million pounds of cargo has been processed out of Afghanistan and returned to its point of origin; 18 percent of that consisted of large principal end items, which then moved to Marine Logistics Command (Fwd.) for repairs and restoration, according to the information. The remainder includes smaller items, individual equipment, and repair parts, which travel to Marine logistics bases or Marine Expeditionary Force support teams to be reissued to units.

An organizer for the event said Amos presented the award to R4OG representatives during a visit to Afghanistan last weekend.